Solar Powers My Model S

[mspohr]

Anyone have any suggestions on getting a small system started, say just for charging the car and running things in the garage.

You can start with microinvertors such as Enphase which has one invertor per panel which makes it easy to add capacity. You can start with just one panel and invertor. You get 250 Watts per panel. Figure 5 hours a day so 1250 wh per day per panel. It does require grid tie. Depending on your power company and building Dept can be easy or complicated. Some people just plug small systems into an outlet.

 

[dgpcolorado]

[Also posted this in the "Driving on Sunshine" thread.]

Some of you have gigantic systems, especially compared to mine:

My 2170 watts of panels have produced all the electricity I needed to fuel my car and run my house since I expanded the array in 2012. I pay just the $16/month service charge to my local power co-op; the co-op is very supportive of renewable energy because the membership — we, the owners — believe in it.

I put in my first 700 W of panels in 2008 as "phase 1" of a future electric car, so I've been wanting to go to "EV + PV" for a long time. I added the rest of the panels in 2012 when I got some real data for how much energy would actually be needed for an EV. My panels weren't cost effective but I budgeted them as part of the cost of the car (originally a LEAF).

I adjust the pitch as seasons change from 55º around the winter solstice to 15º around the summer solstice (the picture above is at 45º and they are currently at 35º). For snow I use a window squeegee on a long painter's pole to pull it off, which is fairly easy when the panels are at a steep pitch.

Despite my small array, my total production is a respectable 15.349 MWh of electricity over the years.

 

[mobe]

 

[proven]

We had solar panels installed on our roof last year. It only covers about 40% of our usage, but now we charge the car at night for almost half our old rate. So, not really solar powered car, but solar has given us a discount for charging it.